Material Culture in Central Asia and the Middle East II

Abstract

A two-day conference on material culture in the Islamic Middle F.ast and Central Asia with special reference to the innovation and diffuson of technology in the areas of engineering, architecture, carpet manufacture, and medicine, among others, was held in London between 5-6 May 1994. It was hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom. As conveners of the conference, Keith McLachlan (SOAS, University of London, UK) and Richard Tapper (SOAS, University of London, UK) pointed out that it was the latest in a series of conferences to be held at SOAS on various aspects of material culture. Earlier ones were entitled "Culinaty Cultures of the Middle Fat" (April 1992)," The Language of Dress in the Middle East" (November 1992), and the first conference on #Material Culture in Central Asia and the Middle Fast" (June 1993). Participants reviewed nomadic, pastoralist, cultivator, and urban systems and assessed the regions' role as centers for innovation and the diffusion of technologies, principally during the Islamic period. The first scsmon of the conference's keynote speech was chaired by Ghazi Algosaibi (Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom) and included a revealing paper titled "Arab and Islamic Contributions to Euro­pean Civilization." Rifat Ebied (professor of Semitic Studies, University of Sydney, Australia, and currently Visiting Fellow, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, UK) elaborated upon the historical issues concerning the production of knowledge in the Muslim world and its transmission to Europe via educational establishments. Ebied pointed out that the Arabs inherited the scientific tradition of late antiquity, preserved and expanded it with valuable additions, and finally passed it on to Europe. He outlined the major segments of the Muslim world's massive contribution to western civilization, focusing on the influence of the Islamic legacy on Europe in the various fields of knowledge, with particular emphasis on the Islamic origins of the system of higher education (i.e., the creation of the university as an institution). In the second session, Donald Hill read a paper entitled "Science and Technology in Islamic Building Construction,* in which he examined some of the scientific and technological content of ...